The Next Big Thing-Eddie’s Prize

I was tagged by my friend Suzanna Medeiros, author of historical romance, to participate in The Next Big Thing series. Last week she posted about her current Work in Progress, Loving the Marquess. You can follow this link to read her post.

The Next Big Thing is a blog hop of sorts wherein a writer is given the opportunity to answer ten questions about their current work in progress or a work that is already published. They then tag some more people, who will post about their respective WIPs the following week and pass this invitation on to other writers to keep The Next Big Thing going. I have asked Tina Holland and Mary Jean Adams from my local crit group, and Karlene Clark from a neighboring city (only 70 miles away is neighboring in North Dakota!), to join The Next Big Thing and make posts next week. Be sure to check them out next Wednesday!

Ready to find out more of what I’m working on right now? Here we go!

10 Questions:

What is the working title of your book?

Eddie’s Prize

Where did the idea come from for the book?

My head. I have 6-7 hours a day to zone out while doing boring repetitive work on the computer at the day job.

What genre does your book fall under?

Paranormal Romance is the broad genre, but it is also post-apocalyptic, time travel and futuristic.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?

Eddie, the hero, is easy. I imagine Travis Fimmell as Eddie. Lisa is slender, blond, and beautiful, which could be any number of actresses. I don’t know who this lady is, but she’s a dead ringer for Lisa.

What is a one sentence synopsis of your book?

Transported to a post-apocalyptic future where women are scarce, Lisa finds herself married to a gorgeous stranger.

Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?

The other books in the series are published by Liquid Silver Books.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Way, WAY too long. I had trouble with this one because I wasn’t sure where to start it. Should I skip for the first several months, since they had been covered in the previous books? No, I decided, then readers might not understand Lisa’s feelings. I started it, deleted, and started again half a dozen times. It’s at the publisher right now, for them to review and decide if they like it as is or if changes need to be made.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre.

I feel a little uncomfortable comparing my writing to anyone else. If they are way better than me (and they probably are, since I’m still pretty new at writing for an audience), then I feel presumptuous. If they are even newer than I am at professional writing, then I feel like I’m being condescending. So I guess I’ll just skip this question.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

A girl I work with is named Lisa Hill. We were (and still are!) so stressed out at work that as a joke, I began writing crazy love stories to perk us up.  It just sort of took off. I had no plans to get them published, but Lisa and others nagged me– No, not nagged. They encouraged me to submit the first one. I did, not expecting it to be accepted. Now this is book 4 in the series.

What else about your book might interest the reader?

If you like stories where women are considered precious becauSe of their rarity, you might like this series. If you’ve read the other books in the series, you might like to see how previous characters are doing.

Mini Excerpt:

      A couple of men came out onto the wide covered porch. The wagon stopped about ten yards from them. One of the men, big-bellied with brown hair and a grizzled, graying beard, came down the steps to stand a few yards away from the wagon.

      One of the Odessa guards stepped forward to shake the man’s hand. “Mayor Madison,” he said loudly, and then lowered his voice to speak further.

      Lisa exchanged a half-laughing, half-horrified look with Carla. Mayor? He looked like a beer-bellied, aging hippy with a hangover. Carla stood up and swung herself over the side of the wagon, landing on the dirt driveway with easy grace. Lisa doubted she could do that even if her feet hadn’t been killing her.

      The second man flowed down the steps with the lithe grace of a cat and when the sun hit him Lisa caught her breath. His hair was golden, a halo of waves around his face. His face was elegant, sun-kissed to a creamy golden tan, perfect in each clear-cut feature. As a model, Lisa had worked with many handsome men, but none of them could top this one. Such beautiful blue-green eyes with dark lush lashes shouldn’t belong to a man. That wide, gracefully curving, kissable mouth made Lisa wonder what he would taste like. He could almost be called pretty, except that his jaw was hard, his chin square and his shoulders broad.